Key-lock box-strap fastener



E. DIETZE.

KEY LOCK BOX STRAP FASTENER.

APPLICATION FfLEu AUG. r. |913.

1 ,348,485, Patented Aug. 3, 1920.

ATTORNEY UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

EMIL.DIETZE, OF BROOKLYN, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR T0 AMERICAN CASTING AND MANUFACTURING CORPORATION, OF NEW YORK.

OF BROOKLYN, NEW YORK, A CORPORATION KEY-LOCK BOX-STRAP FASTENR.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Aug. 3, 1920.

Application filed August 7, 1918. Serial No. 248,795.

T 0 all whom t may concern:

Be it known that I, EMIL DIE'rzE, a citizen of the United States, and resident of Brooklyn in the county of Kings and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Key-Lock Boir- Strap Fasteners, of which the following .1s a specification, reference being had therein to the accompanying drawing.

My present invention refers to a box strap fastener which is securely locked in place upon the strap or straps by a keyed locking action, all as will be presently explained, the primary object being to enable a fastening device, which is the equivalent of a seal, to be tightly attached to the strap sections, so that it cannot be detached therefrom. The invention, therefore, consists essentially in the construction, arrangement, and combination of the various parts substantially as will be hereinafter described in the claim.

In the accompanying drawing illustrating my invention:

Figure l is a perspective view of my irnproved seal or fastener, shown ready to be attached to two sections of the strap for the purpose of fastening the same together.

Fig. 2 is a detail side view of a punch having a special form of movable die for compressing the members of the fastening device and the strap.

Fig. 3 is a top plan view showing two strap sections inserted into the fastening device.

Fig. 4 is a cross-section of the parts shown in Fig. 3, before the projecting prongs are compressed, the same being taken on the line 5, 5, of Fig. 3.

Fig. 5 is a cross-section on the line 5, 5, of Fig. 3 after the projecting prongs have been compressed.

Fig. 6 is a longitudinal section on the line 6, 6, of Fig. 3 showing said projectingmembers compressed to their fullest limit and the material or substance of the straps indented into the openings in the fastening device.

Fi 7 is a bottom plan view of the fastening evice after it has been applied to the straps, the latter being shown on the opposite side thereof.

Similar characters of reference desi nate correspondin arts throughout the dlfferent figures o t e drawing.

l denotes a plate of metal or similar material, preferably of square or rectangular form, with rounded corners, though it may have any size and shape and be made of any material. Near one edge the material of the plate 1 is cut out at a couple of points 2 to provide a pair of curved lips 2, while on the opposite side the material of the plate l is cut out at another pair of oints 3a to furnish another pair of cuive lips 3, the pair of lips 3 being, therefore, opposite to the lips 2 and having a space between them sufficient to allow a strap or sections of a strap.` as A and B, to be inserted between them. oneupon the other for the purpose of securing the said two sections firmly together. Said strap is of the kind that is ordinarily used for fastening a band around a box, bale, or other package, in which case it is essential that the ends of the strap should be closely bound together and this is done by means of the special fastening device I am now describing. It will be understood that it is not essential to have two pairs of lips or prongs as 2 and 3, but there may be only one lip or prong on each side, or one lipon one side and two or more on the other. The invention is susceptible of a wide variation in these particulars, but of course, as many will be used as are found necessary to make a strong fastener. These lips are preferably curved.

The plate l with the lips or prongs struck out of the same at oints opposite to each other as I have speclfied is ready t0 receive the overlying strap sections as A and B, as shown in Fig. 3, and after said sections have been slipped between the prongs I bind these prongs down upon the strap sections by the use of a suitable punch as C having therein a flat die 6 and a movable die 8, tlul hitter being provided with a recess having curved edges at 9 which engage the prongs 2 and 3 and force them down securely upon the strap or strap sections in the manner indicated in Fig. 2.

The movable die or jaw 8 causes the compressed prongs 2 and 3 to catch the edges of the strap pieces A and B, as shown in Fig. 4 and press down said edges as shown in Fig. 5, and as the pressure of the prongs upon the edges of the strap, that said edges will be forced down into the openings 2 and 3 and, in fact, through them as shown at points 4 and 5 in Fig. 7, so that said straps at 4 and 5 will be forced practically through the openings 2 and 3 so as to lie Hush with the bottom surface of the plate 1, or substantially so, being perhaps at times a little less than flush, and at other-times, a little more. Thus it will be seen that the parts will be bound very closely and intimately together, and that it will be imossible to dislodge the seal or fastener 1 rom the strap sections, The only way that the strap can be removed from the box or bale will be by cutting or breaking it.

The plate 1 is fiat and unobstructed from end to end along the space bounded by the projections 4 and 5, so that the strap ends A and B may be inserted endwise between the said projections and lie iiat upon the plate.

A fastener of this kind possesses many advantages over others commonly in use, one important" advantage being that the strap is not weakened by making openings and breaks therein, for it is kept intact and it is not punctured. Many fastening devices puncture the strap and thereby injure and weaken it, but this device simply compresses the strap at certain ,nts and blnds it firmly to the fastening device. Many changes in the precise form, shape and relative location of various members may be made without exceeding the scope of my '1nvention. i

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Leters Patent, is

A box strap arrangement, com rising a metal strap with overlapping en s and a seal (plate by which the stra ends are secure together, havin a sullagstantially flat portion unobstructed y projections on its longitudinal central line, on which portion the strap ends rest, said portion having integral struck-up lips alongside of and in contact with the side edges of the strap ends, and having also openings below the said lips where the latter have been struck out, a portion of the strap ends adjoining and in contact with the aforesaid lips overlying the said openings and adapted to be bent so as to lie in the said openings with the lips in close clamping engagement with the exposed surfaces of the bent portions of the strap ends, and said bent portions occupyin the' said openings out which the 1i s ave been taken, substantially as descr ed.

In testimony whereof I hereunto afiix my signature.

EMIL DIETZE. 

